(AgapePress) - The president of the Southern Baptist Convention has made what some may consider a shocking admission. James Merritt says the SBC is losing its focus on evangelism.
In a frank interview with Baptist Press, Dr. Merritt -- nearing the end of his second two-year term at the helm of the nation's largest Protestant denomination -- says he does not believe the Southern Baptist Convention, as a whole, has a heart for personal evangelism like it ought to have. Using statistics from the SBC's North American Mission Board, Merritt says it takes 40 Southern Baptists to win one convert -- and that 96% of all Southern Baptists have never shared their faith.
He says there needs to be a revival of "soul-winning, personal evangelism," and that it needs to be done with the same kind of passion demonstrated by the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Merritt says one of the reasons that Southern Baptists may be losing their evangelistic edge is the culture's view of born-again believers.
"We are living in a day and an age where we are incessantly bombarded by the culture to compromise our convictions," Merritt tells Baptist Press. "The buzz word is tolerance. No one wants to be known as a fundamentalist."
The SBC leader also expressed his concern about the average lifestyle led by Southern Baptists, noting the negative influence of entertainment media such as music, television, the Internet -- and Hollywood.
"I'm amazed at some of the movies our folks go see," he says. "I'm not a prude, but I've seen people coming out of a movie where they used language that would make a sailor blush and it doesn't seem to affect them. They have lewd scenes that no Christian should see."
"Are we as a church going to influence the culture or are we going to let the culture influence the church?" Merritt asks.
Merritt believes the solution is to "keep the faith" and let the Bible set the standard. He says what is right is what God says is right, even if everyone is against it -- and what is wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.